responsibility. what's your policy? >> the house will come to order. >> right now on andrea mitchell reports, a new year, a new congress. will the 113th be more of the same? how much backlash will john boehner face for his handling of the fiscal cliff and for delaying relief for sandy victims? the vote for speaker is underway. we'll have the results this hour. peter king, he and boehner kissed and made up. >> he did make a joking obscene reference with a smile, and then an i love you and then we went into the meeting. >> but no forgiveness from another republican, chris christie. >> there's only one group to blame for the continued

suffering of these innocent victims. the house majority and their speaker, john boehner. >> in connecticut it's back to class in a new school for the children who survived the shooting at sandy hook elementary. for the first time they're back sense a gunman killed 20 of their classmates and six adults three weeks ago. it's back home for hillary clinton after hospitalization for a blood clot in her head. she's been on the phone within the half hour. what's next for the secretary of state? finally, real courage on the capitol steps today. illinois senator mark kirk, back since suffering a stroke nearly one year ago. >> i wanted everybody to say, you know, that depressed moment you can have when a stroke hits say, look, kirk is even walking up the capitol steps as an example to patients. >> there is real courage on capitol hill today. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in

washington. at this hour house members are casting their votes for speaker, opposed control by the 223 republicans in the majority, but that majority is divided over the fiscal cliff showdown, over sandy relief. john boehner is expected to retain his post, but it would take only 17 to trigger what could be the second ballot roll-call sebs the 1920s. joining me now from capitol hill, nbc's luke russert and kelly o'donnell, our crack team. luke, first to you over on the house side. what are you hearing from inside the caucus? >> well, i was just inside the chamber, andrea, and there's been some protest votes against house speaker john boehner. there's been a vote for alan west, a vote for colin powell, a vote for eric can't or. what this means is there is a group of conservatives in the house of representatives that are not happy with john boehner right now because they are able to muster up enough votes to deny him the first ballot, ie, about 17. they could send the speakership to their second ballot. from my count right now, there

are ten republicans who have not voted when their name was called or voted for somebody else, which means we are seven votes against boehner away from this going to a second ballot. we don't expect it to go to a second ballot. that would be a huge historical thing if it were to occur. that does not happen intestine. it has only happened once before in the modern era, but you are starting to see displeasure from a real conservative block of the house, republican confidence. they're not happy with speaker boehner right now. >> we'll keep track of that throughout this hour. kelly, on the senate side, you've got some historic change. you've got tim scott, the first black senator from the south since reconstruction days. you've got elizabeth warren, the high profile -- perhaps most high profile freshman in. ted cruise from the tea party caucus in texas. angus king sworn in in the last half hour. a lot of change, and you've got 20 republican -- 20 women now in the senate. >> exactly. a very different mood than what

luke is talking about from the house side. i was in the chamber over there as well. the energy is so different. when you are talking about the senate, it was much more about the ceremony, the sense of history today, and it's one of those days that probably everyone on capitol hill needs when there is a sense of being many it together. there is a more family oriented approach because so many people have family members here. i just met the mother of the new senator from arizona, jeff flake. had a chance to talk with tim scott in the hallway. he is being met at every corner around here with congratulations. as you pointed out, one of the most high profile races during this past election season was elizabeth warren from massachusetts who defeated scott brown. then there were the surprises like heidi highcamp of north dakota where many people thought that seat would go republican. it was an open race. she won there. you will have 20 women. we had 17 who were in the past

senate. a couple of women did not choose to come back. you have more women elected. it will have a different feeling, and it needs for this bit of time in the afternoon. there's more of a sense of celebration we're finding on the other side from capitol hill. >> thanks so much. we look forward to your reports, your updates. don't go far. joining us for our daily fix chris, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com, and chuck todd, nbc news political director and host of the daily rundown. chuck, first to you. the political significance of these protests, the few that at least we've tallied so far, that luke russert is tracking. >> this feels as if -- it feels to me very similar to the atmosphere that did surround newt gingrich right after the impeachment. you know, i have to say at first i was not ever putting a lot into this, and it does seem as if there seems to be they quelled this enough because there is no obvious alternative, there is no power flare behind the scenes that would somehow shove boehner aside, find a dennis hastert, that kind of

thing. there is -- there is an uncertain feeling here. >> if it reaches critical mass. this is the house. you can't predict it. >> you can't. there is sort of this point where it could collapse in a second. >> of course, with sandy relief was that other piece that added discomfort. you saw them make up, but -- >> his base of support has been sort of the old bull, but don't forget the moderates. the moderates from the northeast, they're all in new jersey and new york and, you know, what's left of the moderate wing of the republican party. boy, if he suddenly lost that, then where is boehner? >> chris, we're seeing a very different feel up there on the house side. the senate is an interesting story demographically, but right now politically the real interest is on the house side and what's happening to the speaker as we speak. >> no question. i would say, you know, for political joounk junkies like the three of us, this is fascinating theater. it is symbolic. john boehner is going to be the speaker, even if it does go tie second ballot, but it's

interesting, and i think as chuck points out, insightful in a way. the thing i was struck by is not that you have people voting against boehner, because we expected that, and in truth, several people have voted against nancy pelosi. john barrow of georgia, a democrat, voted for john lewis, his fellow democrat in georgia rather than nancy pelosi. jim cooper of ten tnessee voted for colin powell. you have a little bit on both sides. to me it speaks to -- there is clearly unrest, and, yet, it's not unified behind anyone. a couple votes for alan west. that's not going happen. a vote for labrador from idaho. one vote for eric cantor. it's not coalessed. john boehner for all the discomfort with him, that's clear within some conservative circles, the guy is going to be the speaker of the house. it's remarkable that conservatives couldn't unite even a little bit more as a show of force. >> i still believe the only person -- if he somehow

expressed an interest, you would see the committee chairs, you would see a flocking. >> does this -- the question you have to be watching now is how this weakens or stretens his hand going into negotiations on the fiscal cliff -- not that, the debt ceiling. that remains to be seen. we'll have to leave it there. >> i guess. >> because -- >> i normally love to stay. i have to say that there's a bitter feeling. i love the first day of school, which i call the first day of congress. >> i would love to be up there myself. >> there's something the way the 112th ended. >> doesn't give you a good feeling. >> i just -- you wish -- this should be a happier day in celebrating washington. >> we still congratulate those members that are sworn in, and we're happy about it. house speaker john boehner was slammed even by fellow republicans for that decision to cancel tuesday's vote on $60 billion in emergency relief for vemz of superstorm sandy. no one was more damning than the outspoken republican governor of new jersey chris christie.

>> every day that we don't begin to get this aid are days that we can't help people get back in their homes, get businesses reopened, get our economy moving in this state again. those are the real consequences of it. this used to be something that was not political. you know, disaster relief was something that you didn't play games with. now in this current atmosphere everything is the subject of one ups manship. everything is a possibility, a potential piece of bait for the political game. it's just -- it is why the american people hate congress. >> within two hours of christie's tongue lashing boehner announced he would let the new congress vote on the first part at least of the sandy aid package tomorrow. is that good enough? joining me now is new york senator chuck schumer, who visited sandy victims in long island yesterday to assure them that they would get the help that they were promised. senator, first of all,

congratulations. it's a new congress. you've seen this before. happy new year to you. >> same to you, andrea. >> well, let's talk about what the speaker did and how you feel now and is $9 billion, assuming this can be pushed through, good enough? i mean, it's been delayed. you have people in new york state, new jersey, in the region who are still waiting for basic services and for that first insurance check. >> yeah. $9 billion isn't close to enough. in fact, it's just going to pay for flood insurance which runs out of money next week. we've had so much -- so much damage from floods. not just in sandy, but in irene and even from katrina. so the remaining $51 billion is key, and the house is going to vote on it two weeks from now. we did it in the senate in a bipartisan way. $60 billion. there were amendments that were debated, and we're expecting the house to send us virtually the same bill. they may tweak it here and

there, but we're expecting them to us the same bill. if they don't, i think you may see a replay of what happened yesterday. the governors, particularly the republican governor, governor christie, who showed a lot of courage. my respect for him is much greater today than it was a couple of days ago. will make the same strong, hard points. >> now, i don't understand why the speaker did not take a call from governor christie. to me that just doesn't make good political sense to not take a call. maybe he had to explain that he didn't have the votes and that the whole thing could go down it if he put it up and he had to wait until friday and a new congress. that's the kind of thing one politician can explain to another politician. to not take the call, that's really asking for trouble. >> i think speaker boehner was beleaguered because the fiscal cliff vote was the first time there was a majority of democrats and a minority of republicans carrying the day. there's one lesson here. it's the same lesson with fiscal cliff and with sandy.

speaker banner's speakership will continue to be what many would call a disaster if he continues to let the 50 people on the hard right dictate policy. they're way out of the mainstream. they're the reason we've had gridlock. they're the reason that the senate and the house don't function and congress doesn't function. it's not equal blame between democrats and republicans. we're not even equal blamed in the republican party. if you're going to let these 50 people dictate policy, whether it's no longer the federal government funding disasters or forcing us to go over the fiscal cliff unless they get their way despite the results of the election, his speakership will be continued to be disastrous, and he has to just tell them you cannot get your way, and there won't be. people respect leadership. he was showing that leadership. this group would have no choice but to go along. >> senator, after katrina as

disastrous as the federal response was, congress took action within ten days, within weeks. other mrood relief and other disasters. how do you explain that this is going on now for two months, more than two months? >> they have tried reverse the 100 year policy that when disaster tries no locality -- the country unionitis and says it will all help. my constituents have sent billions of dollars when floods hit florida or the gulf when forest fires hit the west and the rockies and floods hit the mississippi valleys. all of a sudden some of these folks want to change the policy. they tried in irene and failed.

in classrooms that have been recreated to look like their own. i know that karen mccarthy is going to introduce symbolic -- largely symbolic legislation on the house side. the senate side we're expecting dianne feinstein to introduce her legislation around the time of the inaugural. is something meaningful going to happen on guns this year? >> i hope so. the president has appointed joe biden to be head of this commission, and he believes something reasonable. you know, you can put reasonable limits on who gets guns without interfering with the legitimate second amendment rights that are enshrined in the constitution. we on the liberal side of things have to accept that. you can put reasonable limits on any amendment. first amendment, you can't scream fire falsely in a theater. those are limits on the first amendment. limits on the second amendment that prohibit criminals, the mentally infirmed, spousal abusers from getting guns and tightening up those laws as

congresswoman mccarthy's legislation does, and i carry that in the senate, make reasonable sense, and i hope we can come together in the middle. not extreme legislation that will scare those who believe who have guns, use guns, guns for self-protection, but at the same time would make our country safer. i think there's a possibility for real compromise here. >> now, one of the things that is really remarkable about today is your colleague senator mark kirks climbing those steps and coming to the floor for the first time in nearly a year after his stroke. tell me about the mood there, and the celebration of his courage. >> yeah. there's the mood in the senate that is much better than the house. senator kirk's bravery, his courage, his strength, his fortitude brought us all together, and there we were, democrats and republicans. i was standing next to senator tim lee of utah, and he and i are on opposite ends of a whole lot of issues both feeling the same emotion.

complete admiration and humility watching what senator kirk did. i think in the senate there's a built of a different mood. there's a mood and a desire among mainstream democrats and mainstream republicans to come together. we did it on fiscal cliff. we did it on sandy. i think perhaps we can set the way so that the house can follow a little bit because particularly on the republican side and the house, they're just paralyzed. >> senator chuck schumer, again, happy new year. good luck to you. >> it is a happy new year. thanks. >> thank you very much. >> and as we follow the voting on speaker boehner's second term, politico's mike allen will be joining us mechanics. you've watched the live stream of the vote line on msnbc.com. still ahead right here on andrea mitchell reports, an emotional day for connecticut parents and their children. students from sandy hook elementary returning to class at a new school in a neighboring town today. this is andrea mitchell reports only on msnbc. we've all had those moments.

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cantor. young of alaska. >> young of alaska. boehner. >> we're continuing to follow the vote for speaker of the house. they're getting to the end of the roll. as they go back and check those who have not previously voted. mike allen is politico's chief white house correspondent. he joins me now. of course, mike accident we're going to be going for the update on the actual vote for john boehner. it appears at least so far we are expecting that it did not have to go to a second roll-call vote. mike, what is the significance of what's happening right now on the house floor and how weakened

has the speaker been by all this, if at all? >> well, andrea, first happy 113th congress. >> happy first day of congress to you. >> some minutes old. andrea, the fact that they're dipping into that vote had should be routine and even if we expect 8-10 to hold back, even that is surprising. that's a big reason that democrats tell us that they see a real opportunity for the 2014 elections that they didn't just a week ago. politico talk to top strategists that tell us that they are going to make the competence of the house republicans a campaign issue. they're going to argue and chris christie has been a good exhibit a for them. they're going to argue democrats are problem solvers, the house republicans are the problem. they say they're going to say they keep throwing this off cliffs. someone in the administration

just pointed out to me that what you keep seeing in papers around the country in local coverage the voters read is not the president won't. it's congress can't. that helps democrats at the moment. >> i'm told by our vote counters up there that at least 13 have voted against or voted for someone else. there is a protest vote going on, and they needed only about 17. although that number may change because there are a number voting present. bachmann, marshalla blackburn, mulvany. you have a conservative protest vote, although as you heard earlier from peter king and some of the moderate northeast republicans who are angry about sandy, they were falling back in line who did call them in and maybe sort of kiss and make up and there were a few obscenities in a friendly way exchanged as peter king said earlier today. what is the significance of the tea party's influence here? these protests that you see on one side, and is john boehner

really caught in the middle between different means of the republican party? does this give nancy pelosi a whole lot more clout? >> he is, and when we were asking some house republicans over the last couple of days if there would be someone -- if someone would challenge him, they said who wants the job? more and more people wonder why does john boehner want this job? he is popular around washington. no one blames him for the more extreme members of his caucus. now, his numbers, you are talking about, are slightly heavier than top republican officials. we were on capitol hill this morning in the canon building where a lot of the freshmen republicans are soaking in chuck todd's first day of school, and andrea, as you were suggesting, it is a romantic day many congress. people have their friends and families up from the districts. they're having open houses in their office. right before you get all of a sudden splattered with the kind

of mud this vote is a little hint in what they have coming weeks, coming months. the big loser over the last couple of days has been president obama's second term agenda. all this overhang. not just the bad -- all the agenda that comes with having to deal with the debt ceiling. the pipeline is clogged. auz know, the senate has trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time. the president wants to do immigration. he wants to do energy. he wants to do infrastructure spending. he wants to do guns. that's going to be really hard with all these issues that we're talking about at the top of the show. >> just think of the state of the union speech that we're going to have against this back drop. we've got steve pierce voted for can'tor, but we don't have, as chuck was pointing out and chris earlier, you don't have an organized group going for a challenge for cantor, for instance, and we know that there's been a rivalry in the past, but they seem to have come together. cantor had a vote for steve

pierce. cantor had a auto vote for a new member from oklahoma. as this roll is stretching out, who knows what else is bubbling up there. second by second. >> and andrea, what we're seeing is members are less and less beholden to leadership. as you know, over time that would have been unthinkable to dis the speaker like this, but among the factors are the lack of the ear marks where frankly money was one of the ways that you could keep members in line. access to media, access to donors. now in the digital world a lot of these members have that. they're not as dependent on leadership for that. we're even told that the famous phone calling cubicles over at the house republican campaign committee aren't used as much as they were because members can be on their cell phones. this is an example of how leadership's grasp is weakened, and we're seeing it in these members who are responsive to

people in their district, responsible -- responsive to not necessarily hearing leadership the way they would have even a few years ago. >> mike, what was your take-away from the fact that eric cantor and kevin mccarthy, two members of the leadership, voted against the speaker on the fiscal cliff deadline? paul ryan went along with him, but paul ryan is more logical the national figure who people could potentially turn to if there ever were a challenge down the road. >> that's right. the ryan vote was very fascinating. on the senate side, as your viewers know, snar marco rubio and ran paul of kentucky, a sharing state with the republican leader mitch mcconnell voted against it. the question was why was paul ryan for it? what he told his colleagues is that he wanted this to win. it was better for the country for it to win. paul ryan's brand is as a serious person, a serious

thinker on these issues to have voted no on what the leaders wanted to win. i think people would have seen as irresponsible. the purpose vote, eric cantor, kevin mccarthy, they passed those votes after they knew that it was going to win, and andrea, as you know, one of the reasons that they do such precise vote counting is to see who they can let go, who they can give a pass on a particular vote, and i think it would veb different if there was a danger -- if it looked like it was in sync, you might have seen a different vote from those leaders. >> one of the questions that i had earlier, though, before the break was why the speaker brought to the floor the -- his initial plan b when he didn't have the votes to pass it. >> that was a pure legislative mistake. i think that they had not -- the members, i believe, were just back from break. they didn't fully have a sense of the membership, and it turned out to be a real mistake.

one of the number of places that republicans misplayed their cards on this, and that's why you have so many republicans arguing that they, in fact, are in a very difficult position as they go into the break. as they go into the debt ceiling. house republican leaders will say, look, we're more comfortable there. we wanted to get past talking about tax increases, and republicans tell me that the basic reason that they cave to this deal and there's no other way to frame it than that is that if they -- the politics on the back side of the cliff are horrible. they knew that the president had a bigger -- had a bigger knife than this do. the inaugural address is 18 days away. 99% of their constituents would be getting a tax cut under this -- or would not be getting a tax increase under this deal, and they couldn't have a

president out there saying it's because of republicans. as you have been suggesting throughout the show, the republican brand has a real problem here and adding that sandy publicity has. >> we will be reporting momentarily as soon as we have one. mike allen, hanks for such a complete briefing. what a pleasure. >> thank you. >> white house correspondent from politico. we'll be right back.

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the students from sandy hook are back to class away in monroe, connecticut. the classrooms were remade to replicate their own. a spoebsman told reporters that it's been mundane and normal. that's good. everything is running smoothly. he noted, though, security still remains a prominent factor. >> we're trying to keep a balance. dwoent want them to think this is a police state. we want them to know this is a school and a school first. they can enjoy their friends and grow up. >> nbc's rahima ellis joins us from there today. that does seem to be the right balance. a cold day in connecticut, but at least they're back in class. >> andrea, i think this is, if you lshg the medicine that the children needed. the lieutenant said that the children were excited and smiling and happy when they got

off the school buses. excited to see their friends and their teachers and to get back to what they know as children, and that is their business of being in school. he said that he met with about 60 parents in an assembly meeting that they had earlier today, that parents expressed some concerns, but they seemed satisfied with the police answers about how they are going to proceed from this point forward with safety. when asked how long the police presence would be at the school, the lieutenant said they're evaluating that on a day by day basis, but in reference to the soundbyte he played earlier, they don't want it to be overbearing, that the children don't get a sense of feeling that they are normal, but they will have a respectful but watchful eye over what's happening with the children at this school here in monroe, connecticut. andrea. >> thank you so much. at least the beginning of a return to normalcy, whatever that means for those children. thanks. and we, of course, are watching developments continuing on capitol hill and the house

chamber. they are tallying the votes to determine john boehner's vote count. it looks like he will retain his speakership. they're still counting votes, and we have continuing coverage coming up here next on "andrea mitchell reports." [ male announcer ] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives.

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with unitedhealthcare, i get personalized information and rewards for addressing my health risks. but she's still going to give me a heart attack. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. the state department reports that hillary clinton is returning to work next week. she's at home talking to the staff this morning and after being discharged from the new york hospital wednesday seems to be in great spirits. the doctors, of course, treated her for a blood clot in her head. it was during during an mri last sunday. joining me chief science and health correspondent bob bazell. they say she's coming back to work next week here in washington. no long flights overseas planned, but it does seem to be a very good news. we saw her walking out of the hospital. wasn't in a wheelchair. she was holding hands with daughter chelsea yesterday. she looked good and seems to be recovering. >> absolutely. there's no reason to think that she will not have the complete recovery that her office says

she's going to have. she'll have to keep taking those blood thinners, and, remember, millions of americans because they have heart stints and they are like she seems to be prone to get blood clots, take these drugs, and they don't seem to affect people's lives that greatly, and it's a normal situation. everything is looking very good for -- and particularly that she's returning to work. it seems like she'll be very fortunate. >> and john kerry, by the way, john, bob bazell has already been at the state department. he was there yesterday working and meeting with staff members, and is on the hill today. of course, the first day of the snab. he will be back tomorrow. the transition is quietly taking place. >> she won't be able to take any long flights. that's one thing because the shuttles in washington and new york to get from new york to washington to get back to work, but she can't be taking the long flights that she was taking anyways. that part of the job is over. that's one thing that somebody

was just had a blood clot can't do because of the danger. that's only a problem for a few weeks or months. it would be long enough that it would impact on any remaining part of her job. >> thanks for that update. bob bazell. >> thank you. >> it looks like john boehner is retaining his post as house speaker. we're watching the votes being counted right now. they're about to announce them on the house floor. luke russert and politico's mike allen both rejoining us. luke, to you. there were some protest votes. some of them were frivelous and certainly no coalescing around any real challenge. >> what happened on the house floor today is significant. the only time since 1913, when the house went to 135 members, you saw a second ballot at 1233. we came close today about john boehner having to be elect odd a second ballot. it did not happen. there was a protest against it. i counted 12 folks who voted against boehner, and there are some who abstained. >> just a second. i think they're about to announce the vote, luke.

well, it looked as though they were about to. we'll break to hem when they give us the vote count. as you were just saying when i so rudely interrupted. >> not at all. that's what they try to do. they try to quiet everybody down in the chamber. here we go. >> the total number of votes cast is 426, of which the honorable john a. boehner of the state of ohio has received 220. the honorable nancy pelosi of the state of california has received 192. the honorable labrador of the state of idaho has received one. the honorable lewis of the state of georgia has received one. the honorable cantor of the state of virginia has received three. the honorable west of the state of florida has received two. the honorable powell has received one. the honorable jordan of the

state of ohio has received one. the honorable david walker has received one. the honorable cooper of the state of tennessee has received two. the honorable amash of the state of michigan has received one. the honorable dingell of the state of michigan has received one. with one recorded as present. therefore, the honorable john a. boehner of the state of ohio having received a majority of the votes cast is dually elected speaker of the house of representatives for the 113th congress. >> as you hear, the cheers going up. john boehner, definitely a divided vote. powell, colin powell. walker, david walker. you don't have to be a member of the house to be voted for for speaker. luke russert, when you look at that breakdown, it's clear that the democrats pretty much hung together behind nancy pelosi and there are there were a few other protest votes. >> they did, yeah. >> the leader is john boehner. >> the real story here is boehner, and while he is re-elected here, andrea, we have

to tell you this was not necessarily easy. when all the votes were counted in the first role, it took, of all people, michelle bachman and marcia blackburn, two members of congress who had missed the first roll, who were not present but their names were called, to come down and vote for boehner. that ended up putting him over the top. conservatives sent a real message today. i know to the outside world it doesn't look like much. well, boehner, he still won with the final count 220 votes, but it came painfully close to being the first contested ballot since 1923 for electing a speaker of the house. it shows you this conference that john boehner has to deal with. nothing is easy in the house of representatives. even in the 113th congress. we knew that for the 112. even in the 113th. >> mike allen, what is your take-away from that in terms of what the president's options are looking forward to the debt ceiling debate to come? >> well, speaker boehner is going to be under a lot of pressure now to show these

conservatives that he is not going to continue caving. i agree with luke that this is conservatives putting the speaker on notice that he can't take them for granted. now, conservatives tell politico that over the next couple of months there are going to be several opportunities for speaker boehner to get back many their good graces. you have the triple roun coming up. the cliffs that are coming, the debt ceiling, the continuation of spending and also the two-month expiration of those automatic spending cuts. the speaker is going to have to now do a lot more with his conservatives than he otherwise would have to. we saw him yesterday already starting to play more for the conservative wing of his conference telling the conference he is done dealing privately with president obama. the future negotiations are going to be many public. i think we just heard as we were waiting for that vote, i think you heard a wailing baby there,

and that isn't any particular caucus. i was up there earlier today, and families' children are on the floor today for the swearing in for the first days. another little sign of that romance against some real politics playing out here. >> when you speak of comedy it's the congressional term for getting long. we've seen a lot of the comedy. the wailing babies recall luke russert when nancy pelosi was sworn in as speaker, and people thought that -- quite a historic moment for women xshgs she chose to celebrate it by having everyone's children and grandchildren, all the children coming up on the podium with her. there she was, the first woman speaker, surrounded by kids. that was -- >> it's always a fascinating dynamic when you see what's going on the house floor. you saw joan joe kennedy, ii, the father of the incoming representative of massachusetts joe kennedy iii. he was there. you had some floor members, tom davis from virginia. talking to some republicans over

the texas delegation. you see a lot of that fascinating, historical day, andrea. >> well, we love being up there. wish we were there today. so much going on around the world. thanks that you're there, luke russert. mike allen, thank you both so very much. we will be right back. constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. we create easy-to-use, powerful trading tools for all. look at these streaming charts! they're totally customizable and they let you visualize what might happen next. that's genius! we knew you needed a platform that could really help you elevate your trading. so we built it. chances of making this? it's a lot easier to find out if a trade is potentially profitable. just use our trade & probability calculator and there it is. for all the reasons you trade options - from income to risk management to diversification -

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sfwleerchlgts we go back to the house. john boehner being cob grat lated by his colleagues. friends alike. he has been elected. he is the speaker of all the house. we should point on the. all of the members of house elect the speaker, as you saw. the majority rules in terms of who gets chosen. it is john boehner. nancy pelosi. at this poemt, after all the fuss and fighting, this is the one moment eric cantor, nancy pelosi walking to the podium. as you see the house chamber here is general celebration. family in the family gallery.

john boehner now picks up the gavel. this is a big challenge. joining me now here watching is josh green from bloomberg business week, and karen from the washington host, and -- also from bloomberg. well, we see what just happened. your cover story is a wonderful picture that we'll show in a minute as we watch john boehner taking the podium of the babies in congress in this whole debate. >> yeah, our coverage is about the fiscal cliff politics, and basically our take-away was that congress is a bunch of babies and so i probably should pause to congratulate boehner who it seems like has finally assembled enough votes to actually win a round. >> can i just say, that is a really mean thing to say about babies. >> it's true. >> that crying you heard on the floor was not babies. it was actually the floor was not babies, it was actually boehner. >> weeping tears of joy instead

of tears of sorrow. >> having the job is not necessarily a joyful event. >> could look at it as a loss. we look at the damage this does to the economy, this process of always kind of going up to the last minute and having these kind of cataclysmic, will it pass, will it crash the market type of votes. one of the bad things about the fiscal cliff deal, it sets up a much bigger, scarier cliff, from an economic standpoint with this fight to raise the debt limit. >> karen as well, your colleague from the "washington post," chris cillizza is joining us as we talk about what happened today and about the economic fallout of this because going into a dealt ceiling crisis after having already been downgraded in august of 2011 and with the strength in hand of some of the conservatives who voted against john boehner and

feel marsha blackburn and michele bachmann. let's listen to nancy pelosi, about to welcome the democratic leader and hand the gavel, i believe, to john boehner. >> to our newest members of congress, it is a special privilege and honor to welcome you and your families and extend congratulations to the newest members of congress. welcome. [ applause ] >> and margaret carlson, as we see nancy pelosi now at the podium, she's pulled that coalition together. i mean, this -- this deadline was averted because of democratic votes. >> she delivered the democrats and boehner, to his credit, accepted he wasn't going to have a majority of a majority and the vote went forward. so his weakness he turned into at least something statesmanlike, which is let's have the vote and then he voted for it. >> karen, having covered this campaign and watched the fallout

from this, what does this all mean as we look forward to, you know, 2016? we have got paul ryan and other players here, marco rubio, you saw him voting against it in the senate. >> the republicans really are kind of trying to find their way out of the wilderness here. i think they are going through a process that is very much like what we saw the democrats going through in the 1980s after they lost a couple of presidential contests in a row, but they are going to have to do this in an atmosphere in which washington seems to have become almost ungovernable. you know, john boehner, the job of speaker used to have a lot of job security. we have now seen six speakers since 1989. it's like playing in the traffic, these days. >> i recall the period after newt gingrich and bob livingston who could forget bob livingston's one-day speakership or something like that. chris cillizza, looking forward to the next 24 hours, going to have key votes finally on at least $9 billion of that sandy relief, chuck schumer told us at the beginning of the show that

is only going to pay the flood insurance for a little while. >> i tell you what, andrea, if john boehner had not made sure to assure people like frank lo beian dough of new jersey and pete carroll of new york that that would be taken care of, you split seen a few more anti-john boehner votes here. this is actual a time, karen hit it is on the head it is easy to pillory john boehner from plan b to these folks voting against him. i would say that in his defense, i'm not sure the republican house can be led at the moment. the caucus is very separated between sort of hard-line conservatives who believe comp prom smiles a dirty word and the establishment practicing matticses that boehner is a part of who see that ultimately, deals need to get done. put anyone else's name in there maybe paul ryan. but anybody else, i just don't

see anyone easily leading this house. my guess if you talk to john boehner privately, woe probably acknowledge the same thing. >> josh green, the business community tried to play a bigger role and was not able to get the big deal, the grand bargain. >> i write about that in this week's issue. one of the big losers i think in the fiscal cliff deal outcome were the high-profile ceos came out, groups like fix the debt, who lobbied publicly, private labor day supposed to kind of impose their will and know how on congress to bring about a sort of spirit of cooperation and a grand bargain that they concluded correctly, washington isn't going to reach on its own.

the story i write this week is basically how that process failed and fell apart and now the critical weeks leading up to the deal, all the ceos, exception of the starbucks ceo, fell away. real contribution seemed to be the message on coffee cups, that starbucks had come together to try to -- >> reduced to a grande latte. >> significant the white house, the president began to work with the business community, both a change in his tone and a change in their tone, margaret. >> yeah. >> that they were trying to work together on mutually achievable goals. didn't work. >>ed out to be much not much more than an optic, mad at him, as you recall, refusing to donate this time because he called them fat cats. >> i think the tone changed. >> yes. so that is a good thing. you have to have them. i wouldn't say congress is ungovernable. really, it is the republican caucus. and it is part of it. and one of the reasons i think

boehner wasn't challenged was who wants the job? it is just so difficult. >> although, karen, i have to say to be the speaker of the house, especially as a person of the house, that is the life dream of many veteran democrats and republicans. and i think they would take the job because every one of them has a big enough ego to think they can fix the problem. >> and you are two heartbeats away from the presidency. the fact is the speaker used to be, as harry reid accused john bain over being, a dictator, control everything. now they can control virtually nothing. >> and i want to thank all of you, as we begin this new year, with friends and colleagues all, it's great to see you, karen tim multi-and margaret carlson and josh green, great cover and chris cillizza, thanks very much for being our daily fix. let's listen to nancy pelosi and you the house of representatives.

>> as we mourn the families of the newtown, we know that ensuring the safety of all americans would be truly meaningful tribute to the children and teachers of sandy hook elementary school. for the strength of our democracy, for the sake of our children, let us work together to protect and defend all of our people. [ applause ] in the same year president lincoln issued the emancipation program clammakers the statue of freedom was unveiled atop the capitol development and it continues, that dome continues to be a beacon of freedom to the world and a source of inspiration for all who have had the honor to serve in program. let us work in friendship and

partnership to live up to the legacy of our founders and the aspirations of our constituents. let us renew the strength of our democracy by reigniting american dream. as we celebrate this moment, let us honor and thank those who secure our freedom and protect our democracy, the veterans and men and women in uniform and their families, wherever they serve. [ applause ] god bless them. god bless america. thank you all. now the house will be -- continue to be led by a proud son of ohio, a man of conviction and a public servant of resolve. speabo